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It's tough but someone's got to do it! David P, Peter and Hilary volunteered
to check out the much-fabled River Wandle - from Merton Abbey Mills
down to the Thames at Wandsworth. We've been meaning to do it for years,
and wanted to check it out "on the quiet" so as to judge how
much experience people need for future trips. It's about 5 fun-filled
miles (and took
us about an hour and a half, not hurrying
- kept stopping
to
take
pictures, I guess!), with more little rapids than we expected, wildlife
aplenty (in a semi-rural corridor),
tree obstructions,
weirs,
and finally,
the
500m
tunnel under
the Arndale Shopping
Centre. As ever, see www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/ for
further details...
We started just below the weir at Merton Abbey Mills, to the amusement
of people shopping at the craft fair there. It's a tricky start, lowering
the boats three feet or so into the shallow river - and then you're
quickly into a little rapid, before rounding the bend by the big Savacentre.
Swerve round the shopping trolleys, sharp left, under a low road bridge,
and you're away into the "countryside"... The first little
weir - a long towback but little power
- is
in a tunnel
under
a building
- presumably an old mill? Our next obstacle was a recently-fallen tree
- almost blocking the river though we managed to sneak through the branches.
A mile or so later
is a genuine little set of mini-rapids (where an old weir
was
replaced
by
a number
of rocks)
- tricky to navigate but of little whitewater value. The next weir
- we took the right hand channel - involves a quick limbo under a low
pipe.
At this point, a few local yoofs decided that lobbing
stones at us would liven up the afternoon - we're pretty sure it was
nothing to do with angling! On to Earlsfield, where the river is divided
into two parallel channels by a concrete wall, on to a misleading pair
of tunnel entrances - the river actually
drops left down a little weir and onwards to Wandsworth.
The Arndale Centre tunnel proved to us that LED head torches aren't
as good as "the real thing" at least until your eyes get accustomed
to the dark. But it's pretty straight and doesn't last that long... though
it is very dark! Finally, we exited
just before the river mouth, at a prominent set of newly built steps
on The Causeway (just off the Wandsworth one-way system).
Our conclusion: highly recommended, though the fact that it's a flowing,
shallow river with obstacles means it's not suited to inexperienced paddlers.
Although we don't know of any access problems, there were quite a few
fishermen, so small, discrete, quiet groups are advisable.
All images ©2003 CSCC/David Pearson/Peter and Hilary Lawrence
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